Town hall void

Monday

Aug 31, 2009 at 11:30 PM

CONGRESSMAN JOHN Barrow can't be everywhere at once in Georgia's 12th Congressional District, which sprawls across 22 counties between Savannah and Augusta.

Still, he should have found time to hold a town hall meeting in Savannah to listen to the public's opinions, pro and con, about health care reform. While the Savannah Democrat has been properly forthcoming about his own concerns, which this newspaper published Aug. 18, there's nothing like meeting face-to-face with constituents.

Unlike U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, a Republican who also represents a portion of Savannah and Chatham County in the House, Mr. Barrow did not make arrangements for a health care town hall meeting in Savannah prior to the long summer recess. That was a mistake.

Mr. Kingston held one last month at the Armstrong Center. Not surprisingly, it was a standing-room-only crowd.

We believe Mr. Barrow could have attracted a similar-sized turnout. Granted, some political risk would have been involved. You never know who will show up at a town hall meeting and what speakers will say. And it's not always pretty, as some congressmen learned the hard way.

But such forums are old-school democracy. The average citizen is free to come and speak his or her mind - or, to vote to stay home. Congressmen are free to listen, lecture, argue or snooze.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Barrow said the congressman had a town hall meeting in Savannah as recently as July 1. But that gathering, which was held at the American Legion post in Thunderbolt, was promoted as part of an "annual Veterans Town Hall tour," not to pick his constituents' brains about Obamacare.

Mr. Barrow is scheduled to meet here Wednesday morning with members of the Chamber of Commerce and their guests and talk about health care, and that's good. Many businesses help cover health insurance costs for their employees and are legitimately concerned about rising expenses and proposed changes in Washington. But people who don't run businesses have concerns, too.

Meanwhile, political foes of Obamacare have seized upon this void to schedule their own District 12 town hall meeting, which will be held today at 6:30 p.m. at the Coastal Georgia Center.

They should keep in mind that Mr. Barrow voted against the Nancy Pelosi-pushed version of the bill.

They also should know that Mr. Barrow, a Blue Dog Democrat, can't afford to take a hard left line on any legislation because it could cost him his seat in the next election.

As a Democrat, Mr. Barrow would have been an easy target of anti-reformers at his own town hall meeting. But that's part of the price of public service. Anyone who calls the tune in Congress should be willing to face the music, melodious or discordant, back home.

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